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Community activist Cornelius McDonald gunned down in Prince George's County
Many Prince George’s County communities are in grief after the shooting death of a community activist early Saturday morning. On Sunday, police identified the victim as 33-year-old Cornelius McDonald.
PRINCE GEOREGE'S CO., Md. - A 33-year-old community activist was gunned down over the holiday weekend in Prince George’s County.
Cornelius McDonald, who lived in Upper Marlboro, was shot outside of Jasper's Restaurant in the 9600 block of Lottsford Court around 12:45 a.m. Friday, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
McDonald was a crisis hotline worker and support worker for youth, according to his LinkedIn profile.
There’s been an outpouring of sadness and love for McDonald on social media this weekend. Many of his friends called him Neal.
"Not only was he a high school classmate of mine, but a father and beloved member of our community," FOX 5's Mikea Turner said. "Neal was known as ‘the voice of the next generation’ and ran Stay SOLID, an organization that supports youth mental health."
FOX 5’s David Kaplan spoke with a cousin of his, Rico Scott, who said it’s now the family’s mission to continue his work and his advocacy to honor him.
"There are people in his corner that wanted to keep everything he had going on alive and we’re going to do that," Scott said. "His movement was strong. You know, to be as young as he was, you’d be surprised at how much work he’s done."
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Credit: Anthony Drayton
Scott says his brother was murdered five years ago and McDonald also leaves behind a young son. He says regardless of age or need, McDonald was a helper.
"His energy. It’s his energy. It was something that he felt compelled to do. Something he wanted to, kind of like break the noise of the bad rupture in the DMV period. He was one that would always try to smooth things out," Scott said.
Preliminarily, police think there may have been some kind of altercation inside the restaurant before the shooting.
The family remains adamant that McDonald was not a confrontation-seeker. FOX 5 was also told by family and the Prince George’s County Council member for that area that police were in the parking lot when the shooting happened.
Prince George's County councilmember Wala Blegay says this is a huge loss to the community in more ways than one.
"It really is tough, because when we’re going out there telling people about gun violence, one thing we’re telling them is to turn your life around, don’t get involved with this, because you want to live to see your kids and grandkids, and in this particular case, Mr. McDonald will not be able to see—his son has lost a father. And this is really unfortunate," Blegay said.
McDonald’s family says right now, they just want justice for this death.
Investigators are still working to identify and arrest the suspect who fled the scene following the shooting.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call 301-516-2512.